Clean Your Room: A Meditation on Jordan Peterson’s Sixth Rule for Life

Set Your Own House In Order Before You Criticize The World

 “But why should I take advice from a drug addict who tells other people to clean their rooms but can’t clean his own?” 

It seems to me that every time I mention to someone what I am learning from Dr. Jordan Peterson, this is the response I receive. It is a widespread misconception indeed. In a Substack article and an interview for Unherd, David Fuller of Rebel Wisdom Podcast publicly accused Dr. Peterson of not living up to his philosophy of personal responsibility. Fuller’s concerns center around Dr. Peterson’s life-threatening illness and benzodiazepine withdrawal, which began in November 2019 and only ended in May 2022 with his complete return to health. Fuller argues that Dr. Peterson’s medical crisis was caused by his own failure to regulate, admit, and take ownership of his alleged addiction. 

I have responded rather scathingly to Fuller on my own Substack, Reflections of a Tired Mother. But it is my hope that by engaging with these arguments here, in a milder way, I can help fans with good-faith concerns understand that their appreciation for Dr. Peterson’s work is not misplaced and that David Fuller was mistaken and misinformed. 

But why does David Fuller’s unprofessional opinion matter? Dr. Peterson’s own audience is composed of countless young men who credit Dr. Peterson’s lectures with helping them attain sobriety from substances. By casting aspersions upon Dr. Peterson and his core tenet of personal responsibility, Fuller is also casting aspersions upon that demographic of his audience who report that they owe their lives to Dr. Peterson.

Fuller’s article can’t hurt Dr. Peterson or damage his reputation beyond repair. But it can harm, confuse, or discourage readers and listeners of Dr. Peterson who struggle with addiction and mental health crises. Let’s talk about it. 

Fuller claims, “Peterson and the family have been very careful to frame his experience as a ‘drug dependency’ and not an ‘addiction.’ The choice of words employed by Fuller insinuate that the Peterson family is obfuscating in order to save face. But they told the simple truth: Dr. Peterson’s medical diagnosis was dependence and not addiction. The difference between physical dependency upon a prescription medication and addiction to an illegal substance was clearly defined a decade ago in the DSM-5, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illnesses. And there are countless resources on the internet to clearly define the medical distinction between addiction and dependence. 

Also informative is a podcast clip in which Lex Fridman interviews Jim Keller, a world-renowned software engineer. The clip is entitled “Jordan Peterson and the Hell of Benzodiazepine Withdrawal.” Keller is Dr. Peterson’s brother-in-law and explained simply and succinctly the effect of benzodiazepines upon the GABA circuits and the malpractice of physicians who recklessly prescribe the drug. He said of Dr. Peterson, “I’ve never seen anyone suffer so much … my heart goes out to anyone going through this.” Jim Keller is one of the most disagreeable people on the face of the earth. And if he is this moved by his brother-in-law’s pain, perhaps we should be too. 

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Fuller goes on to cite an unnamed source who, he claims, is very close to Peterson: 

“His [Peterson’s] refusal to admit and deal with his addiction(s) is a contradiction of his fundamental message of personal responsibility, and is a dangerous message of denial to send out to other addicts. That a public acceptance of his personal addiction and journey to health would be of huge value to others.” 

Fuller’s is a fundamental misunderstanding of Dr. Peterson’s message. To frame physical dependence, physical illness, and life catastrophes as “a failure of personal responsibility” is in itself a gross irresponsibility. Dr. Peterson’s message has always been that tragedy and trial and tribulation will befall us in this world, and that only having built our lives upon a firm foundation of faith and family can we weather the storms of life. Dr. Peterson’s own trauma and recovery is an eloquent testimony to the veracity of his message. Far from being a person whom no one should take advice from, Dr. Peterson is a role model for anyone who has experienced a life-threatening illness and come back stronger. 

Fuller goes on to say that Dr. Peterson’s “refusal to take personal responsibility for his part in his difficulties” ” is “pathological.” In an interview Dr. Peterson gave to the New York Post entitled “Jordan Peterson: Deadly effects of prescription drugs left me bitter, but I refuse to be a victim,” he did precisely what Fuller accused him of not doing. If one cannot differentiate between a man who runs around behind his family’s back scoring illegal shit on the streets to get high, and one who takes prescription medication as directed by a trusted physician to be strong and present for his family and his work in time of trouble, then perhaps one should take a bit more personal responsibility for one’s education. 

Fuller’s attitude toward addiction and mental health starkly underlines the stigma that still prevents people from seeking the help that they need for these conditions. By insisting that addiction is a matter of refusal to take personal responsibility, Fuller is further perpetrating the shame that keeps people with addictions and dependency in the shadows. And that is the very opposite effect that Dr. Peterson intended his message to have. 

The message of chapter six in Twelve Rules for Life was not “arrange your life so that your dearest ones never become ill so that you never experience pain and illness that could break your mind so that great tribulation in the form of job insecurity and reputation savaging never happens to you.” The message of “set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world” is not so much about cleaning your room as it is about cleaning your heart. The world is filled with suffering; the storms will come, and if our homes are built upon a foundation of sand, the storms will bring that home to the ruin of homicidal bitterness, resentment, and malevolence. But if we are wise and build our homes on a foundation of rock, if as Dr. Peterson says “Our actions are guided by love and our words are guided by truth,” then our homes will not collapse when the inevitable storms come. 

Author’s Note: If you have enjoyed this essay, look for the continuation of my meditations on the Twelve Rules.